Last Updated on September 13, 2024
Quora was co-founded by two former Facebook employees, Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever. Their mission was to create a place where anybody could ask a question and receive real answers from people with real experience. The amount of value Quora provides is truly priceless. In the past year alone I’ve learned so much from this site. I honestly feel like a completely different person (in a good way of course).
As a gesture of respect, I would like to share some handy tips and tricks for using Quora. Quora has helped me learn some amazing things and has kept my mind sharp with innovative and interesting ideas about the world around me. I feel like the community is full of open minded individuals who are willing to hear your point of view and provide valuable feedback. Let’s check out a few ways Quora can help you establish connections, share great ideas, expand your mind, and build new friendships.
Unfollow Irrelevant Questions and Topics
You’re going to want to unfollow questions that no longer need answering, or are just dead conversations. While unfollowing, make sure that you get rid of topics you’re no longer interested in as well. If you have too many topics, your newsfeed is going to be bloated. Be sure to only follow topics you truly care about.
When I first started using Quora, I was following tons of different topics. Now I have a much more manageable list that I actually care about. This has helped me greatly to find useful and relevant information based on my interests. Remember, quality is always better than quantity.
Mute and Block People (If you need to)
I have found that one of the best ways to keep results filtered in the long term is to block and mute people who don’t bring much to a conversation. You’ll save yourself frustration and time by not reading these posts. They can be damaging to an answer as a whole, so it’s best to filter through these people as soon as you see them.
Upvoting and Downvoting
Make sure to upvote those who provide very insightful answers. Not only does this help them gain popularity in the community, but you will have a way to stay connected. You’re also given the option to downvote people who provide answers that make no sense or are simply trolling.
That being said, you should sometimes pay attention to “unhelpful” people. Why? Because their opinions may bring reasonable arguments to the table. It’s important to listen to both sides of a conversation when you’re learning and trying to grow as a reasonable and logical adult.
If a comment brings a valid argument to the table, you should upvote it. Even if you don’t agree with the answer you shouldn’t allow your pride and ego take control. At rare times you should go as far as following the people you don’t agree with. Why? Because they could help you expand on your own ideas or learn new ones. As I mentioned earlier, it’s very important to stay open minded.
Write Meaningful Answers
Quora is all about learning and engaging with others. If you see a question that you have good insight about, take the time to write a good answer. Not only could you bring more support to your side of the argument, but you have fully participated in an online and global discussion.
This will only help you learn and grow as a person. Don’t be rushed to provide a quick crappy answer. Taking the extra time will really give you a chance to learn more about the subject at hand. If you spend time looking up answers in books, magazines, and articles, you will be bringing insight to the conversation that others might not have found on their own.
If you contribute to helping people learn, you get the chance to be a teacher. People will respect you for spending you valuable time giving authentic answers. Since Quora is all about the expansion of the human mind and insight, it’s well worth your time. There is a reason you’re on the website, right? Well, this is your chance to reach out and learn.
Support Quality Answers
Many answers to hard questions may not be of the best quality. Overlook those and pay more attention to people who have answered with high-quality writing and sourced facts. These are the people who need your support.
By supporting quality answers, you’re getting a chance to let someone know that what they’re doing is good, which will only encourage them to spend more time providing quality answers. It’s a wonderful cycle that you can be a huge part of.
Be Original
At times it may seem as though everyone is writing the same thing as you. I always suggest that it’s best to be original in your posts. If you can’t think of something original to say, be sure to explore the topic further. Again, this will enhance your learning and that of everyone reading your post.
Taking time to come up with something new and fresh will bring a new side to an agreement, even if you are just agreeing with what has already been stated. This is the best way to keep everyone interested and talking about your posts.
Don’t Ignore Downvoted Posts
At times, because people have differing opinions, there are posts with numerous downvotes. When this happens, it’s very important not to ignore these posts. As logical thinkers, we are responsible for absorbing new ideas (even if we don’t agree with them). When we ignore posts written by people with unpopular opinions, we are not contributing to the ideas of the community as a whole; we essentially become a problem on a site. When you begin to ignore what other people are saying, you are hurting the global freedom of speech that the Internet provides.
Unfollow Popular People
When I first started using Quora, I found that many people on there were very interesting. This led me to a following frenzy. While it’s nice to follow people who have great ideas, I have found that regularly resetting everyone I follow has helped me keep everything clean. There is definitely an 80/20 rule at play in what you see in your feed.
After unfollowing popular people, find new intellectual people to follow. Never settle. If you do settle, Quora will start to bore you.
Conclusion
Quora is a wonderful place to spend your time productively. Using it on a daily or weekly basis will help you learn about new concepts and change your personal views. Quora is great because it appeals to so many different types of people. At times you can teach people new ideas, and other times you will be amazed at what others will teach you. Quora is not just a website, it’s a learning experience.
